June 18, 2013

A string of appointments to the boards of state Adirondack Park Agency and state Olympic Regional Development Authority are expected to be approved before the legislative session wraps up this week in Albany.

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APA

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has nominated two new commissioners to the APA board. Their appointments are still pending.

Daniel Wilt of Lake Pleasant would replace Commissioner Frank Mezzano of Speculator, whose term expired in 2011. Wilt is the owner of Wilt Industries, a five-person company in Lake Pleasant that makes equipment for scientific research, fiber optics and the semiconductor industry. He is also a member of the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

Karen Feldman, a lawyer from Hudson, would replace Cecil Wray, whose term expired in 2010, to one of the three out-of-the-Park seats on the board. Wray, a New York City lawyer with a seasonal home in Keene Valley, stepped down following last week's APA meeting.

Current APA Chairwoman Lani Ulrich of Old Forge, and commissioners William Thomas of Johnsburg and Arthur Lussi of Lake Placid are set to be reappointed. Ulrich's term expired last year, Thomas' term was up in 2010, and Lussi has been serving on an expired term since 2009. APA board members are allowed to serve on expired terms until they are reappointed or replaced.

Mezzano has been on the APA board for 15 years in two stints. He served from 1998 until 2006, left for a year and was reappointed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in 2007. Mezzano is the former supervisor of the town of Lake Pleasant and has often been an advocate for local government and economic development interests during his tenure on the APA board.

The APA appointments need to be approved by the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, then the Senate Finance Committee, then the full Senate.

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ORDA

A new ORDA board member, Jill Ruhm Broderick, is set to be appointed this week, although it's unclear whom she would replace on the authority's board. ORDA spokesman Jon Lundin said he didn't know.

Broderick lives in North Creek, home of the ORDA-run Gore Mountain Ski Center, and is the founder and broker of Broderick Real Estate. She's worked in real estate in the North Creek area for 26 years, according to her business' website.

Current ORDA board Chairman J. Patrick Barrett and board member Robert Flacke are also set to be reappointed this week.

Barrett, originally an appointee of Gov. George Pataki, had been ORDA chairman from 2006 to mid 2007, when Spitzer appointed Joe Martens to the position. In March 2011, when Cuomo picked Martens to become commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Barrett returned to lead the ORDA board.

Flacke has been on the ORDA board since 2009. He was also interim CEO of ORDA from 1993 to 1994. He has been Lake George village mayor and town supervisor, DEC commissioner and APA chairman.

The ORDA appointments first need to be approved by the Senate's Cultural Affairs, Tourism and Recreation Committee, then the Senate Finance Committee, then the full Senate.

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This week

Dan Mac Entee, a spokesman for Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, said he expects all the APA and ORDA appointments will be confirmed this week.

"We're scheduled to finish on Thursday, but they're talking about a Friday session now," he said.